The start of a new year is when many businesses become even more optimistic about their business’s future. It is full of possibilities. There are many plans and to-do’s ready to be executed. However, many businesses tend to forget about how fast a year can go by. It is more imperative than ever to understand changing sales trends and consumer demands in order to best adapt.
With that being said, here are 4 sales trends that companies must understand in 2020 in order to skyrocket their sales.
- People Are Craving More Personal Connection Than Ever
“Automations are great, but customers are expecting to feel more connected to companies more than ever and get more personalized experience,” Susan McVea, sales strategist, mentions, “with more than half of customers expecting brands to anticipate their needs before their purchase, it is crucial to use the 2020 tools to create that experience while maintaining personal touch”.
McVea also adds, “a simple way to go about doing this is to personally thank your customers. Even it is a pre-recorded video of yourself or someone from the company saying, “hey thank you so much for your purchase”, this is significantly going to boost your trust factor. For the companies I consulted with, I found that this hack decreased refunds and increased customer retention– because now we are person to person, not just a “company”. It allows you to step into a relationship”.
2. Simplicity Matters The Most
Gregory Giagnocavo, founder at the Strategy Academy, explains, “our attention span is getting much shorter. A Microsoft study shows that as of 2018, an average person’s attention span is 8 seconds. While as in 2000, it was 12 seconds. Focusing on grabbing attention as quickly as possible is becoming even more important than ever since this trend will just continue”.
“Content has to grab a person’s attention in less than two seconds, or the reader will scroll by. The more simple your content is, the better. Simple concepts. Simple explanations. Simple sentences. Write for a 8th grade reading level, ” Giagnocavo adds, “people tend to skim-read, so repeating your point or even product name or feature will provide benefits to you in making your content more effective. The use of storytelling and humor is also an all-important element to grab, and hold, the reader’s attention”.
3. Fear Of Economic Downturn Hasn’t Impacted Spending Habits
Diana Mae K, the Founder of Ella Experience, brings up an unexpected trend in consumers’ spending behavior, “many companies expect that in economic downturn, people will stop spending. However, although many Americans believe that there may be an economic downturn, that hasn’t impacted their spending. 88% of Americans say their spending has either increased or stayed the same as before. Meaning there hasn’t been much changes in spending habits”.
“But whatever happens, remaining calm and solely focusing on solutions is a priority rather than panicking about unpredictable events,” she also adds, “in a downturn, people are more concerned about safety and security versus high potential and big gains. It does not mean they will stop spending. Do the due diligence to determine the biggest threats potential customers face. From here, shape the sales strategy around ways to minimize those concerns. That will create very loyal customers”.
4. It is a Decade of Infobesity
“The information age is gone. We are at a point where we have overload of information at all times… It is a decade of infobesity,” Miha Matilevski, founder of Fail Coach, explains, the amount of content out there, the number of similar products, websites selling them, brands buying followers, reviews etc. Buying patterns are slowly starting to change since consumers are getting confused by overload of information”.
Matilevski also adds, “when we put ourselves in consumers’ shoes, it is clear that consumers will need any help that they can get to filter through information. As well, this shows that businesses have to be way more creative on how to establish trust. In this decade of infobesity, companies who operate based on transparency and consistency are the ones consumers will go to”.